Knicks Bulletin: “I guess we just like making it tough for ourselves.”

The New York Knicks kicked off their postseason run with a victory over the visiting 76ers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup, beating the Philly Cheesesteaks 111-104 with a monster effort by the bench mob.

It took an eight-man army to deal with the Sixers but the Knickerbockers were their usual resilient shelves and stopped Philadelphia on their tracks coming back from 13 points down and putting up a game-high 14-point lead of their own.

Here is what everybody had to say after Saturday’s affair.

Tom Thibodeau

On everybody stepping up when needed...

“We need everyone. Tonight, it was the bench. You gotta win games different ways.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s Game 1 outing...

”Those two big free throws he hit late. But also [he is] able to battle and be physical, move his feet and just anchor the defense. The blocked shots [and] the offensive rebounding is huge.”

“The whole month of April, we looked at, OK, he’s got to work his way back. Obviously, when you’re out as long as he’s been, he’s done a great job putting the work into it. In each game, you can see his timing is coming around.”

Josh Hart

On the Knicks struggling to pull off the win but ultimately coming away with it...

“We’re resilient. I guess we just like making it tough for ourselves.”

On the Knicks beating Philly even with a subpar performance by Jalen Brunson...

“It’s definitely encouraging. We’ve been on his shoulders all season. And when he struggled, that’s when we had to pick up. When your top dog is not playing well—not shooting well, I didn’t want to say not playing well—you need other guys to pick it up for him, and that’s what we did.”

On Mitch, Deuce, and Bogdanovic lifting the team off the pine...

”Talk about the next man up mentality. Our bench was amazing today. They were the reason why we won the game.”

“I think Deuce was a plus-37, Bogie was a plus-27. Mitch was a +20. They were the reason we won the game. So when your top dog is not shooting well, you need other guys to pick it up for him and that’s what we did.”

On anticipating the Sixers' strategy to leave him open and taking advantage of it...

“It felt great. The last two games of the regular season, our season series, Nick’s game plan was just to play off me and dare me to make shots. I knew that as soon as they won it [the play-in game]. And I knew it would be the same thing with [Erik Spoelstra] if Miami won it.”

“That’s something I knew I had to focus on. This whole week was just getting up shots, pre-practice, post-practice. Going back at night. Just getting up shots, getting up reps. So I knew it was going to be that way. Open shots. Fortunately, I was able to knock them down.”

On Jalen Brunson shooting 8-of-26 from the floor...

“Damn.”

Jalen Brunson

On his performance on Saturday’s Game 1 and the Sixers’ effort at MSG...

“I think I had spurts where I was good. Five turnovers, obviously missed a lot of shots. Maxey got to a lot of shots where he blocked it. So you’ve got to give them a lot of credit. For the most part, they did a really good job, and then we found ways to make some key plays at the end to give us the lead, but they did a really good job.”

On how he plans to bounce back from a “bad” Game 1...

“I think (I will do) the one thing I kept doing: I just kept turning the page, turning the page, knowing that things would be better. I have to have short-term memory when things like that happen. Honestly, you’ve just got to give them a lot of credit.”

On the Sixers finding a way to limit his impact on the game...

“It was great defense, and they had a great game plan. I’ve got to go back to the drawing board and be better.”

On leading the series 1-0 after the first game...

“I mean they came in and played hard. They did what they were supposed to do. We gotta give them a lot of credit, that’s a good team over there.”

“This isn’t close to being over. We can’t be complacent. Just happy we got the win today.”

On the ball Mitchell Robinson bounced on out-of-bounds Tyrese Maxey after blocking his attempt...

“It’s all instinct. And when you see things like that and do things like that, it’s confidence. It’s instinct. It’s just staying in the moment.”

“Obviously, there’s very few times, very rare that plays like that happen. He saw it and took advantage of it, and it’s a credit to his IQ.”

On how the Knicks found a way to win without him having a great game...

“I got the best teammates ever man. They do this stuff night in and night out. So nothing surprises us. [McBride] played big time tonight.”

On Deuce McBride’s breaking season heading into the playoffs and his great Game 1 outing...

“He’s always been ready. When he works out, he works out the same way with the same attitude. Every single time he’s preparing for moments like this.”

“When his number’s called, he’s ready to go. That’s a credit to who he is and how he prepares. We have a lot of trust and faith in him.”

On what it took to get the job done in the fourth quarter...

“Deuce McBride.”

Miles McBride

On the bench move winning the game on Saturday...

“I think we just wanted to come in and shift the momentum, get the ball up the floor, make sure we were getting stops first.”

On not being shocked at his breakout game against the Sixers...

“It doesn’t surprise me. I learned from last year. And tried to take that and be impactful, do whatever I can to help the team win.”

Mitchell Robinson

On playing 30 games for the first time since Dec. 1...

“I felt more energized. The crowd helped a lot. Home court, their energy helped us out a lot, so just went out there and played hard.”

On hustling for rebounds and forcing turnovers with maximum effort...

“I mean, it’s a dogfight. You got to go out there and play hard. You have to, like... ‘Who wants to go home?’”

Bojan Bogdanovic

On the Knicks bench putting on a strong performance...

“In the playoffs, there’s no first and second unit. If you want to win the series, we all have to be ready.”

Kyle Lowry (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On Saturday’s loss...

“It was a real-life battle in there, they kicked our butts on the glass. They did their job tonight. They executed their game plan, they protected their home court.”

“We have to go, watch the film, understand what we need to do, what we need to get better at, and go from there.”

Nick Nurse (Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach)

On Joel Embiid’s status and return to the game following his injury scare before the half...

“I knew when I went in at halftime that they were checking him out. And that he was up and moving. And they did say we are seeing. They didn’t rule him out yet. They just took him all the way to the end there to get him ruled back in.”

On what went wrong for his team at MSG...

“Well, we had another one of those second quarter starts where we didn’t guard anybody. We had a hell of a first quarter. We come out to start the second quarter, and it is bang, bang, bang. The quarter is off to a bad start.”

On his game plan to stop Brunson...

“It wasn’t like we were blitzing him and sending two and trapping him and taking the ball out of his hands. We were sitting in our zone for a lot of it but our zone shifts towards, you know, you obviously are trying to guard certain guys, right, and give them credit.”

”I mean, I think we’re probably OK with some of those shots, but they just, they hit them and give them credit for stepping into them and hitting them.”

Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia Sixers Player)

On Embiid’s fighting his way back from the first-half injury...

“It’s tough seeing your brother go down and you just kind of feel for him. You pray for him and hope he’s OK.”

“When we got back to the locker room, [Joel] said he was going to go back out there and give it a try, so hats off to him for his determination and will to win.”

“Nothing with Joel surprises me now. He’s always a fighter. He’s always gonna try and give it his all for his team. So, if he thinks he can go, he’ll for sure be out there.”